Jim P

Hi Luis, Jean and Ray gave you a best guess based on the few photos you provided us of an out of polish blade with a high probability that it’s not the Masamune and gimei but still has a chance it’s one of the other masamune as there are a lot of them in the Sue Muromach eg, Echizen signed with 2 kanji as did a few others but you seem to not be happy with the comments from one of the most senior members and prefer to take the speculative long shot that it came from the Nambokucho so not much more we can add ? also, Jean did not say not to consider the yasuri mei just that it is not a good indicator as we don’t know if it was left in a shed for hundreds of years to rust or loved and taken care of.It does not mater if its crisp or not its the type of yasuri mei that's important. When you get it, take a pic with the habaki off and looking down on the mune so we can see if it’s had a few polishes or not ? and a pic of the hamachi would help also what was the description from the seller ?

Ray that's what I thought but Kunisada was a good fit but looking at it a bit more Masamune is a better call

My bet is with Jean, and the best match I was able to find was this Kunisada and he looks like a chance (国定), Tenbun 1532-1555, Mino Steve, you amaze me I could not see Kunisada even with my glasses on

HI Stephen,You asked "Would Mr Tanobe sensei write a sayagaki on a blade that is not papered?" Yes he would, the sayagaki is his opinion/appraisal of the blade.

Hi John, IMHO too straight even for 99% of kanbun swords. I am with Brian walking stick/sword cane

Hi Kubur, I had a quick look for you the only smith I could find that had a Signature like this was in Hawley's MOR1000 Moritsune Taira Moritsune Bungo 1504-1559 Think this may be your man ? can you post pics of the sword is the Hamon Gonome-midare ? . Nihonto club has a reference https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/MOR1000 Thanks John, I think the Bungo Moritsune or Kaga Moritsune (盛常) is looking good but not much on them?

Greetings John, Good to hear from you If I am not mistaken you have the Tadahiro that was just amazing one of the best I have seen in OZ,

Hi Sylvain, That’s good news that NTHK-NPO gave it a pass But I can understand why NBTHK judged it as gimei it had some ? and they are conservative I remember thinking the same at the start as some of the traits did not fully match the gen’s I could find info on. I learnt a lot from this exercise, sometimes it is just not possible to pin something down 100% other times you just know you are very close I recommend doing the Appraisal Quiz at Aoi art when I started having a go I thought this is hard but now I find I am getting better and get a few now and then like this month got the maker but not the gen but that’s a lot harder when no mei is shown but in your case we had the mei but could not get a match on all the traits but you had most of them so the tipping point must have been close In the end you now know a lot more about the Yoshimichi smiths

Hi Jeremiah, No burning question why would you care when a gimei signature was put on ? Chris, I think if I had a gimei signature but liked the sword I would have it taken off as soon as it’s been confirmed so then it can be papered and no longer has that stigma?Then it’s all about the sword, most collectors don’t like them. For me the fewer in the pool the better but it’s a personal choice the NBTHK and the others do not paper them so that is a good indication of where they stand on this issue. Do a search of the board is has been discussed many times

Hi ? This should help http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/16303-nihonto-oil-a-study/ or just use Singer All-purpose Machine Oil . My preference is Fujishiro's Oil but take your pick

Hi Darcy,I always thought that mekugiana in a lower position were an insurance policy from mekugi breakage and not a kesho-ana I have only seen one or two so its rare have a look at http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/18745-mekugi-ana/ Jussi has pics of the koshirae with the 2 also look at this Nagamitsu blade in Type 3 mounts from ohmura san's site http://www.ohmura-study.net/286.html

Hi Matt, Good to hear from you its one that's out of the blue my friend is trying to organize some photos of the blade. Its funny what turns up around Melbourne

Hi Darcy, Thank you for taking the time to post this it is the best info on den I have seen to date and one of your best posts as you say context is everything and you have to get that right first. I hope you do have time to write a new article on Den, I know a lot of us would welcome this as an updated and more comprehensive understanding that's been needed for a long time.I found the non use of Den on swords with kinzogan or kinpun mei the most interesting and the one you need to look at more closely I spent a long time looking at the 2 Yukimitsu's and had not yet looked at the rest of your post my first thought was they did not look like they were done by the same smith for me the first one was more in line with what a late Kamakura should be and the other a later blade more in line with your thoughts that it may be Sadamune. For me the first is just marvelous. That shot of Norishige’s work is something I have not seen this before so different cant wait to see the whole blade

Hi Yu Li, No, as its the best Sadakuni that's awarded Juyo as I said in the other post there can be 2 Sadakuni blades with the same sugata but if one is a bit more tired or has had a harder life it will not get preference for Juyo In the past smiths often made more than one blade when a customer placed an order and picked the best 1 of 3 if I remember so its always been picking the one out of the crowd

Hi Yu Li, You need to ask why the difference in price? and if you still can not understand it then ask some of the guys on the NMB that are wiling to help but by PM and ask them how they came to the conclusion that it is in the right range but remember they are just that, peoples opinions. The other way takes time to get a feel for the market. Also remember that some blades sell in a day and some take years to sell so if your price is out it may take years to sell it or not at all. I have seen blades that have been up for sale for years, that tells me the seller is unrealistic but some have hope that someone will come along one day and just because its an old blade does not mean its a well made blade as there are a lot of low quality or tired old blades sue koto is a good example

Thank you, Peter this was beyond my skill level with kanji

Thank you, Klaus this one looks like it has a chance date ?

Hi Darcy, Thank you for a most informative post I remember reading this article, Interview with Doctor Sato Kanzan who said that ( It is certainly contradictory in a direction, but at the same time Yukimitsu, Masamune and also Norishige are blacksmiths of Soshû who studied under the same Master, Shintôgo Kunimitsu, and which all contributed largely to the great prosperity of the school of Soshû. Consequently, these three blacksmiths share similar characteristics in their practices, of which some are excessively difficult to distinguish. When these works resembling were identified, the judgment could be affected by a point of attention, or the stress laid on certain characteristics. For example, if the factor of the end of the nakago in kengyô is retained, the judgment gives Masamune, if the curve with the point is rather right and that the uchizori what is called takes the form of “standard in growth of bamboo” (takenoko zori), Norishige comes in first; and finally, if the end of the nakago formed in kurijiri is not round in an outstanding way but rather takes a lengthened form, the judgement is fixed on Yukimitsu. However, these three Masters Blacksmiths line up almost with equality in term of historical placement, statute, and three attributions point actually identical conclusions under different denominations. In any frankness, it could be more desirable than conclusions such as “is Yukimitsu,) If den was used for a little bit of uncertainty with a mumei blade from these 3 smiths is it not then implied that probably it is going to the other two ? if not where do you go with den in this case ? Juttetsu ?Doctor Sato Kanzan said (In NBTHK Volume 9 ) most of these blades were of classical appearance so that most of nanbokocho blades are out IMHO just saying Yukimitsu with something extra or less does not seem the best use of it in a case like this

Thanks Darcy, Its those non general ones that sometimes give you a ? http://www.nihonto.ca/hasebe/

Hi Guys, A friend asked me to post this and get a better translation and ask what are your thoughts on the mei ? Unfortunately I don't have Fuller's Sword Smiths of Japan and don't know much about Showa smiths but I know he was a important smith with great skill Thanks

Brian,Its hard not to go to Norishige. It has that Norishige look

Hi Darcy, My first thought was Norishige then looking at the posts thought maybe it not that easy so maybe one of the Hasebe ? or as an long shot Nobukuni as I get the feeling that it will not be shinto or later

Hi Yu Li, If you have papers not much more we can add but will try 1) Nakago appears shinto (no chance for sue koto?) - am I wrong? yes wrong, shinto 2) In what tier is horimono (low mid high grade)? not high grade IMHO low grade What you have is a shinto blade with so,so horimono that is probably ato-bori or added later and you said you saw a Jumyo on a website at 20k IMHO most don't go that high and from the photos yours is in the lower range PS.you need to take better photos like all of the blade in one photo and some close ups there are posts on the NMB on how to take photos

Green Dragon, Yu Li An Cho ? your first name Yu Li ? The NBTHK and NTHK thought that they are by the same hand and I was pointing out that the tada kanji is very close as it is a point in working out which Tadayoshi for an example, Art and the Sword - Volume 1 1988 has a article on shodai Tadayoshi's way of cutting tada but it is different to what we see in yours. It is a mine field to work out and there are always exceptions and as BaZZa said No easy answers for the Hizen school

Hi BaZZa,Why thought a chance for shodai was this blade from the 45th-NBTHK Juyo Touken pic, from Touken Komachi,it was on there site last year take a look at the tada on the two